


The Mage and the Knight

by Avrina



Category: No Fandom, Original Work
Genre: Angels, Betrayal, F/M, Friendship, Knights - Freeform, Magic, Politics, Revenge, Sins
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-01-05
Updated: 2020-01-05
Packaged: 2021-02-27 06:34:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,536
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22132645
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Avrina/pseuds/Avrina
Summary: Lily receives an old family heirloom from her father and is quite astonished: captured in the jewel is the soul of an angel of sin. Since her father is innocently in prison, this opens up completely new possibilities for her and soon she and her friends are on a vendetta...---His hands were full of blood.For all this blood, the woman he loved had left, even if her hands were bloody as hell, too.And she didn't even know that on his hands was now added his brother's blood...
Relationships: Original Female Character/Original Male Character





	The Mage and the Knight

Lilandra Dorne, since yesterday officially an elementalist mage of Istarhal, could have normally looked forward to a rosy future. She united the two opposing elements fire and ice within herself, and although this impaired her actual power, any nobleman would have been happy to hire her, because this way she killed two birds with one stone. Moreover, her aunt Seyloah was the anointed Queen of Istarhal and so Lily would have been a welcome connection to the royal court.  
Technically.  
Because Seyloah's older brother, Lily's father, was in prison for alleged high treason and Lily was a burned child.

That was one of the reasons she was sitting alone at a table in the dining room the morning after the announcement of the exam results.  
A second reason was that she passionately despised all the followers of King Piron and Queen Seyloah, just as they despised her father.  
A third reason was that her friends were almost certainly hungover in bed because they had celebrated the end of their education.

"Hey..." someone said in a scratchy voice and Lily looked up from her sweet rice porridge. Clattering, a breakfast bowl landed on the table, and then Arthas clumsily dropped himself across from her. Apparently not all her friends were sleeping anymore, but at least he looked sufficiently hungover. The black hair was dishevelled and hung stringy in his warm brown eyes, his angular face had the pillow's marks on his cheek and forehead, his broad shoulders hung down weakly. Standing, he was almost a head taller than Lily, but now he sat slumped and looked exceedingly pitiful.  
"Good morning," she said softly and deliberately low.  
"Good?" he muttered, rubbing his eyes.  
"You didn't have to go out and celebrate."  
"I passed my exams on the first try," he returned and began to stir in his rice porridge. Lily didn't doubt the validity of this; Arthas was an outstanding fighter and could even fight some of the magical Berserks without any problems, but he was certainly not the brightest light in the night. She smiled at him.  
"I'm really proud of you for it, but I was just pointing out that it was your own choice to get drunk."  
He gave a grumpy grumble and began to eat.  
"What about the others?" she asked. Arthas, who shared a room with two of their friends, shrugged.  
"Tychus was snoring earlier and Josvah looked as if he'd rather eat breakfast backwards."  
"Ah." Lily nodded and sighed.

But it was not long before Arthas nodded past her. As she turned halfway around, Josvah came towards them. He was a rather inconspicuous young man with reddish-brown hair and dark eyes, who could easily get lost in the crowd - as long as he didn't wear his paladin armor. Paladins and Berserkers were warriors with a magical talent that was formed in a secret process - the reforging - that allowed them to wear extremely heavy armor, wield all weapons, and use certain spells unconsciously. It was rumored that Josvah's talent would have been great enough to be a weak mage, but since his father- a nobleman from Dorne- wanted to suck up to the royal couple, he had placed his son in the service of the kingdom as a paladin. As a result, Josvah was a pretty powerful paladin and Lily could feel his magic humming as he sat down to her left - an unmistakable sign that something was wrong with him.  
"Lord in Heaven, why did you give us the alcohol?" he murmured and buried his face in his hands.  
"To keep us happy," Arthas explained between two spoons. Lily dared to doubt whether this was true, but she really didn't feel like a theological discussion.  
"How are you?" she asked instead and Josvah sighed deeply.  
"Better after Elsir brought over his hangover potion."  
"Why didn't I get one?" Arthas promptly complained and pushed the empty breakfast bowl away.  
"Because you were already gone."  
Arthas grumbled and Lily smiled.  
"Then the other three will turn up right away, won't they?"  
Josvah shrugged. "It's possible that Tychus just dumped the stuff down and is snoring again."  
That was indeed quite possible, but Arthas nodded past her again.

Tychus, a gigantic berserk, stomped in. He gave them a narrow nod and sat down next to Arthas only after he had gotten his breakfast. The dirty-blond hair stood out strangely on one side, the scar that ran across his left cheek glowed red, and next to him even Arthas looked slender.  
"Morning," he grunted and began to eat.  
"Good morning," Lily replied politely. She didn't like Tychus much, but he was friends with Arthas and Josvah and that was enough.  
"Won't you eat?" Arthas then asked Josvah, who again sighed deeply, grimaced and muttered:  
"There is a difference between _wanting_ and _needing_." But then he got up and got himself some rice porridge and tea as well.

He had hardly sat down again when Tychus gave a soft growl. But this time Lily didn't need to turn around, she could sense her best friend Elsir, an alchemy mage. He sat down at her right side and gave her an honest smile, forming deep dimples in his round cheeks. Small, chubby and with mouse-brown hair that almost perfectly matched the color of the novice robes, he looked extremely out of place next to the warriors.  
"Good morning," he said, slipping a small bottle to Arthas.  
"Thanks."  
"Do you feel better?" he asked Josvah and he nodded.  
"I'm eating, so yes."  
Elsir smiled sheepishly and took a sip of tea. He may have been an alchemist and had no healing talents whatsoever, but he was always sincerely concerned for his friends' well-being and they loved him for it - after all, he was the one who most often bought sweets from somewhere.  
"Did you stop by Corvis?" Arthas then asked before uncorking the bottle and drinking the content in one go.  
"Of course I did. He should be here any moment." Elsir nodded and Arthas made a face.  
"Did you change the recipe?"  
"A little. Outside the Academy, cinnamon is expensive."  
"Tastes disgusting."  
"Most potions do," Tychus remarked dryly.  
"Unless they are alcoholic potions," Lily mocked and Tychus grinned.  
"We understand each other..."  
Josvah sighed, Arthas sighed, Elsir giggled.  
"Morning," it sounded at that moment and Lily looked up. There was a grimace on Corvis' face that was supposed to be a smile, and clumsily he settled down on Arthas' other side, tea spilling from his cup. Before he could even swear, Elsir had magically dragged the liquid back into the cup.  
"Thanks." Corvis was the five years older brother of Arthas and, on the surface, a slightly more angular, larger version of him. The fact that his eyes were steel-gray and there was usually a serious expression on his face often made him appear cold, though he rarely was. He was a loving big brother to them all, and after three years of traveling he returned to the academy as a teacher - where he introduced the older students to debauchery and the younger to swordplay. His somewhat inappropriate lifestyle was quite a thorn in the side of Lily and the pious Josvah, but having a teacher on their side had too many perks to seriously complain about such things.  
And now he was hung over like everyone else.

It was a comfortable silence in which the six sat, and it was almost uncomfortable when Tychus asked:  
"What are you doing now? Well, now that we're done..." He sounded conspicuously casual, but Arthas shrugged directly, followed by Elsir:  
"I don't know."  
"What are you up to?" Lily asked back and he shrugged his broad shoulders uneasily. He was just a farmer's son whose magical talent had caused trouble in his early childhood and who had been awarded a scholarship to the academy because of that very talent. Sure, as a berserk he would find a stable place in the army, but the others were nobles and would hardly accompany him.  
"What about you?" Corvis now asked Lily, he smiled and played with his empty tea cup.  
"I want to visit my father," she said calmly, returning his gaze.  
"At Wuthering Heights?" Josvah asked uncertainly. "Are you even allowed to do that?" Wuthering Heights - the prison fortress on the cliffs by the sea.  
"Alvis was allowed to do so when he came of age."  
"I'll go with you," Arthas said in a tone that would not tolerate any argument.  
"I didn't expect anything else." Lily smiled at him and he blushed. He was in love with her, which was as sure as the Amen in the church, but as long as he didn't open his mouth about it and instead ended up in some whore house with the others every now and then, she certainly wouldn't make a move.  
"You're hardly going to just say _hello_ and show him your new robes," Corvis said with a raised brow, ignoring his brother's comment.  
"No. I want to hear his side of the story." Her father had been arrested right in front of her. She had been only six years old and that night her magic had broken through.  
"And if you don't like what he has to say?" Elsir asked cautiously.  
"What should happen then? I mean, if the accusations were true, the country wouldn't have been on the brink of civil war for nearly fifteen years."  
"What if in his version of the story, he really is innocent?" Josvah asked. "You cannot just go to the king and demand justice."  
"Oh, she might." Corvis said before Lily could open her mouth. A smile of amusement played around his lips. "As his niece, you could just walk into his study and demand all the justice you can think of."  
"That," said Josvah emphatically, "would be true treason."  
"If you think of it as something national. You could also just break it down into a family drama." Corvis shrugged.  
"He has a point..." Tychus murmured and raised his hands apologetically as he received an angry look from Josvah.  
"Family drama or not, your uncle's the king, and-"  
"Nobody said I was going to _kill_ anyone," Lily intervened. Josvah was drilled as a paladin to protect the kingdom and the royal family, and most paladins were extremely sensitive to the subject.  
"But you were thinking it," Elsir said softly. He was quite right, but Lily didn't say so. She hated her aunt passionately for her betrayal of her own brother and despised her uncle for being such a weak man that he simply blessed his wife's actions.  
"I just want to talk to my father. Nothing more."  
"I'll accompany you," Arthas repeated and she nodded.  
"I'll come with you," Elsir said quietly and a little uncertainly. His family didn't care much for mages - especially alchemists - and if they asked what he did, he could tell them he was looking for a job. But he was Lily's best friend since the first days of their education and she couldn't imagine a longer time than some weeks wthout him.  
"I'm coming along," Tychus growled, and that surprised Lily after all. "Before I rot somewhere at the border because neither orcs nor goblins nor albs show up, I can go and look at the country with my friends, can't I?" he added at her face and she smiled.  
"Oh, please, you can't be left to wander through the world on your own!" Josvah shook his head.  
"You have a duty towards the king," Arthas reminded him mockingly and Josvah curled his lips.  
"I'm escorting the King's niece, my dear." He could have avoided the remark, Lily thought, but Josvah probably needed this justification to salve his conscience. And a paladin with a twisted conscience was really not what she needed at her side.

~

Arthas tried not to grin too silly. He would travel with his friends for a while and those were great prospects. If Lily had planned to go back to the royal court, he would have had to return home and that would have been hell on earth. Not only because he had a very obvious problem with his father, but also because he would have died of lovesickness. A journey like this gave him in theory the opportunity to finally tell Lily the truth- officially at least.  
"Arthas."  
He blinked at Corvis, who had nudged him. Josvah and Elsir were already discussing an itinerary, after all Wuthering Heights was at the far end of Istarhal.  
"Hmm?"  
"We have to talk," Corvis said softly and determinedly and rose. At that moment, Lily suddenly jumped to her feet.  
"Oh, damn, I forgot the tailor." She ran away with fluttering robes and without further greeting. Much slower Arthas and Corvis left the dining room.  
In the gardens between the large main building and the dormitories Corvis stopped abruptly.  
"Did you even think about it?"  
Promptly Arthas ducked his head a little. "Lily can't go alone! Nor Lily and Elsir alone!"  
"Just because Elsir would follow her down into hell doesn't mean you have to do the same, for God's sake!" Corvis was angry, almost furious, and Arthas hated being scolded in this state. "I swore to our father I'd look after you."  
"I can hardly stay at the academy and teach as well," Arthas returned angrily.  
"No, but I'm not just gonna let you go around watching you commit treason with Lily."  
"Well, really, as if she was going to."  
Corvis gave him a gloomy look. "I will go with you."  
Stunned, Arthas looked at him. "But... but you got a good job here."  
"I just came back to take care of you nuts. And I know Istarhal a little better than you, by the way." That was undeniable after his three-year road trip.  
"You don't need to play nursemaid, Corvis," Arthas tried again. "We're all adults."  
"Just because you're of age and you've graduated from the Academy doesn't mean you're responsible."  
"But-"  
"And if Lily doesn't want me to go with _her_ , I'll go with _you_."  
"But-"  
"End of discussion." Corvis underlined his words with an angry gesture and Arthas surrendered; he could not win such a quarrel.  
"I'm sorry," he said softly, knowing full well that Corvis would calm down. Corvis promptly sighed deeply.  
"I'm just worried about you, Arthas. I know that Tychus can incite you and Elsir to all sorts of fooleries and Josvah would join in to stop you from worse."  
"But we're here for Lily. She is the only one who has any plan for the future at all," Arthas protested quietly and Corvis sighed again.  
"A plan that may take a few weeks, surely." He was absolutely right, but Arthas pulled a wry face. "It's summer holidays now and as long as I can take care of you, I will," Corvis added.  
"I don't need a nanny."  
Corvis sighed. "You're my little brother, Arthas, I love you and I don't want anything to happen to you out of stupidity."  
"I can take care of myself."  
"Prove it to me." At Corvis' faint smile Arthas raised an eyebrow. "Prove it to me and I'll return to the Academy."  
"I will."


End file.
